My first large cent.

[BillZ]

The wife and I went back to a place we had been to once over the summer. It's a county park with a fairly large patch of woods in it. Last time, we located some semi-old foundations. I would guess they date back to 1900 or a little earlier. The wife found a barber dime and I found an old wheatie, a merc, and an almost unreadable King George II Half penny.

Today we tried to locate some other former buildings that were showing up on a 1950 historic aerial pic. On the way my wife noticed some stones by a stream that had straight edges like they may have been cut. Not sure if human hands altered them or not but just in case we swung around the area for a bit. Both of us dug iron signals to get an idea what may have been there. I found what looked like some badly corroded nails and the wife found an old horseshoe.

Pics of the stones:.





Horseshoe:


We did manage to find the foundation we were looking for but it was surrounded by left over pieces of corrugated metal roof that had our detectors screaming so we then went back to the spot where I found the halfpenny. About 15 minutes of hunting went by and I got a good hit in a hole left by an uprooted tree. about 3 down was a large copper and I could tell by how it felt that is was not badly worn.



I didn't want to rub it so I put it in my pocket to wash off later. We hunted for a while longer and after not having any more luck, headed back. Cutting through the woods to the main path, I spotted some standing water. Turns out is was a man made pond formed by an old concrete dam.



It's a little difficult to make out but you can see the pond is in the upper part of the pic and water is running over the edge of the dam.



What was a littler further downstream was even more surprising. It looks like an old swimming pool! I am pretty sure it was a pool because it has a shallow and deep end and there is no sign that a structure was built on it. It was getting dark so we didn't have time to hunt around it but you can bet we'll be back.




After I got home, I carefully washed off the copper coin and it turns out to be a nice 1852 Braided Hair large cent.

[coinnut]

on the Large Cent She cleaned up real nice. That place has lots of detecting left for you two. Looks like it may not have been hit too hard anyways

[pulltabsteve]

Awesome job! Congrats!! Love the looks of that detecting spot

[milco]

Congrats on a very nice large cent!

[zrickkid]

Nice largie! Looks like you found a nice spot to hunt, good luck there! thumbsup01

[jkress]

Congrats on your first. Must have been quite the feeling when you realized what it was.

It's on my wish list.

Great job on the LC and nice pictures too.

[angellionel]

Congrats on your first large cent! And she is a pretty one too.

[del]

hey Bill nice copper , congrats on your fist large cent the first picture sure does look like somekind of building sat there at one time (a shed , out building or even a barn or school house ) great pictures of the area by the way . hope you do well there on your next visit .

Dan

[wild willy]

im happy for you your first largie! alot of potential for those sites. hit them hard. willy

[RobW]

Awsome Large Cent. It's a great feeling isn't it! Congrats!

[BillZ]

Thanks for the kind comments everyone. I hope to get back to the pool site this weekend and see if anything is there to be found

the first picture sure does look like somekind of building sat there at one time (a shed , out building or even a barn or school house )

Dan

What made me doubt that it was stones from a structure was that they were in a low area along a creek. Wouldn't people normally avoid building in a flood zone? I also tended to avoid digging along creeks because I thought periodic flooding would bury everything out of reach.

I would love to have you experienced cellar hole guys tell me what to look for and what to avoid.

[coinnut]

What made me doubt that it was stones from a structure was that they were in a low area along a creek. Wouldn't people normally avoid building in a flood zone? I also tended to avoid digging along creeks because I thought periodic flooding would bury everything out of reach.

I would love to have you experienced cellar hole guys tell me what to look for and what to avoid.

I don't know if I count as an experienced cellar guy, but here is what I do no matter where I hunt. I try and never rule out an area during a hunt. I start with the obvious areas, the cellar hole, barn, paths, the well. If it's been hit, then I expand my horizons lol People will naturally shy away from certain areas (like you said about digging next to creeks). That is where you want to try. How do we know where anyone walked 150 years ago Does the flooding of the creek bury things or unbury them Look under bushes, right next to tree roots, enbankments, far fields or hill tops, etc. You would be amazed what is out there. There is a lot of silence, but when you get something, it may just be the find of the hunt. Hope at least some of this makes sense lol Don't pre-rule out anything This is where your sixth sense takes over and the real satisfaction of a day in the woods comes through.

[catskillcomics]

Congrats on your first Large Cent, a pretty one too

[tanacat]

thumbsup01 Nice LC I bet you did the dance and you're hearts still thumpin'!